Civil associations in Lika region from 1860. till 1940.

Povijest nastanka i djelovanja građanskih udruga u Lici može se pratiti još od 1835. godine kada je osnovana Narodna čitaonica u Senju. Ipak, tek su krajem 19. stoljeća stvoreni svi preduvjeti za brojnije osnivanje svih vrsta građanskih udruga u Lici te je od tada njihov broj u stalnom povećanju. Iako je nesumnjivo da su razne vrste udruga u Lici svojim djelovanjem pozitivno djelovale na ličko društvo, taj fenomen društvene mikro-povijesti nije bio predmet sveobuhvatnog proučavanja. Ovaj doktorski rad kronološki prati stvaranje prvih građanskih udruga (društava, zaklada, štedionica, klubova i podružnica) u Lici u vrijeme Vojne krajine, njihovo naglo povećanje u vrijeme Ličko-krbavske županije i promjene koje su ih zahvatile u vrijeme Kraljevine Jugoslavije te završava početkom Drugoga svjetskog rata kada su građanske udruge u Lici naglo nestale s povijesne pozornice. U radu je prikazano političko, gospodarsko i kulturno stanje u Lici koje je uvelike utjecalo na brzinu i kvalitetu nastanka novih udruga. Također su obrađene i građanske udruge izvan prostora Like jer je njihova kulturna i ekonomska interakcija bila važan element u razvoju ove regije. Stoga je cilj ovog doktorskog rada po prvi put u našoj historiografiji dati, ne samo sumarni prikaz građanskih udruga, već i razloge, uzroke te posljedice njihovog postojanja na prostoru Like i Senja, a sve u svrhu boljega razumijevanja kompleksnih i nedovoljno razjašnjenih povijesnih procesa u hrvatskoj povijesnoj regiji Lici.The beginings of organizations set up in Lika region reaches far into the past, in the time of medieval brotherhoods; however, the first civil organizations in Lika did not arise until the Military Border systems have been abolished and until the break through of the modernization processes that originated in the Civic Croatia. The city of Senj had partially different but also earlier organizations' development. The first known civic organization on the area that has been the subject of this doctoral dissertation was The National Library in the city of Senj, founded in 1835. Withal, this civil organization is the first one in Croatia. In Lika region, the first civil organizations were not founded until the abrogation of the Military Border which, at the same time, has been the starting point for the progression of one of the most important forms of modernization. In the first part of this scientific work, social stratification and differentiation in the everyday life of Lika's residents has been depicted, whereas the usage of an argumented research approach has served to explain complex political, military, economic and other mutual influences between Lika's peasants-soldiers and the authorities that have dominated during that time. Multiple conflicts, unsafe and economically marginalized area, unsettled property laws and so called 'cooperative phenomena' are just a part of the numerous reasons why Lika region has entered Croatian and Habsbourg Monarchy's cultural and social processes relatively late. An emphasis is on the development of education, literacy and culture as basic determinants of future development of the civil organizations. Second major group of the research questions deals with an emersion of the organizations on the Croatian and European area, as a result of new global political processes. This part of the disertation tries to answer the question 'which were the reasons for the organizations' establishment in the first place', so as 'to what extent the organizations have influenced the residents of Wienna, Zagreb and other cities of the Habsbourg Monarchy'? Special emphasis is put on the law regulations, that is, so called 'Imperial Decree' which has helped the organizations to establish and work. Also, this group of the research questions discusses the inherited differences that existed in an administration, mentality and the development itself between the former Military Border and the Civic Croatia. Comparative research has provided an evidence that the development of a new district – Lika-Krbava county – when compared to the other districts, has been minor. Also, the questions that have been the matter of this scientific work were 'which kind of the organizations were there in the first place, 'what is the nature of the organizations' and 'which is the real level on which these organizations have fulfilled their purposes and goals'. This kind of analysis is very important in order to understand Lika's history from the beginning of the 20th century; in this period economic and cultural life of the Lika's residents is highly inflenced by a new regime of the Kingdom of SHS and, later on, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This group of questions especially makes an exception of the city of Senj, as a kind of border exception, but also explains which political and economic circumstances and perplexities resulted in prosperity and stagnation of the city beneath the Nehaj Fortress. The third group of the research questions, using the archive sources of the civil organizations' rules, gives an overview of more than one hundred and fifty civil organizations according to the territorial regions (districts) that existed during the Lika-Krbava county and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This section reveals the purposes, goals and the activities of administrative councils and assemblies of all major civic organizations (associations, clubs, affiliates, commities, foundations) found in the districts that existed during that time – Brinje, Donji Lapac, Gračac, Gospić, Korenica, Otočac, Perušić, Udbina and the cities Senj and Karlobag. In spite of major illiteracy, political and national antagonism and the fact that Lika was at the periphery in the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, until the beginning of the World War I, a great number of the organizations has been established in Lika region. When talking about this in the first place, we must mention some proffesional societies, libraries, 'falcon' organizations, music organizations and economic organizations, although there were also some historical occurences such as the first theatrical group in Otočac, or one of the oldest tennis clubs in Croatia, the one in Gospić. Thereby, in the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, Lika is the region of the numerous changes, but even more is the region of the extreme contradictions. In the same (research) way, the attention has been dedicated to history of Lika's organizations outside Lika's area. Throughout this group of questions not all civic organizations outside Lika have been elaborated, only those whose members actively participated in the development of the possibilities for the future economic prosperity of Lika region. Therefore, this part of the paper tries to show the connection between Lika region and the other parts of the countries that existed during that time, where the descendants of Lika's residents have lived. This scientific work tries to answer the questions of the real connection of Lika's people outside Lika with the real problems which were perceived by them in a different way than by those who remained living in the homeland. The Society of Lika's people in Zagreb was Lika's major emigrant organization which intensively helped its agile members and offered a solution for a hard life in Lika region. The Society for the preservation of the Plitvice Lakes was one of the best known organizations in Croatia, however, its class and narcissistic behaviour could not have been accepted by most of Lika's residents. In spite of individual interests of a great number of members of Lika's civic organizations, what does remain is a constatation that the organizations, especially those whose members were peasants, have obtained a huge success when it comes to development of cooperatives, crafts, agriculture, but also education and culture. Also, what is notecable is the fact that efficiency of the numerous affiliates of federate economic organizations has increased, what leads to the conclusion that the overall progress in Lika was connected with the political and economic centres outside Lika. A key influence onto the organizations' development in Lika was the one by certain individuals such as Buda Budisavljević, Ivan Devčić, Dragutin Trstenjak, Ante Cividini, Ivan Krajač, Ivan Gojtan, Ante Lončarić, so as many other culturaly and publicly known people. In that way, this doctoral thesis has scientificaly confirmed an actual similarity of the associations and organizations in Lika with those in the rest of Croatia, but also that these similarities were, in fact, quite limited. Civic organizations are an important factor in every community, so as, of course, for Lika's identity which is historically saturated in turbulent ways. This work tries to make a contribution not just to better understanding of the civic organizations in Lika, but to contribute to understand the overall environment, that is, the atmosphere in Lika region. This gives new knowledge regarding micro-historical elements of one culture that has been a carrier of social, cultural, political and economic development of the region between the Kapela mountains in the north and South Velebit and the river Zrmanja stream in the south. This doctoral thesis is the first scientific contribution to better understanding of the civic organizations and their importance in the region under consideration. Although this thesis, through the depiction of work of the civic organizations in Lika, has tried to give an answer regarding broader social, political, economic, cultural and religious life of Lika and Senj's residents in the period of turbulent and modernisation processes, some questions remain only partially answerable. If we take into consideration the broadness, possibilities and influence of the organizations, this observation is logical, too. Also, here we can talk about a vast area which makes a closed whole only in certain segments. That is the reason why this overview of the work of the civic organizations in Lika asks for further research attention, especially when it comes to the analysis of economic changes which have occurred in Lika during the second part of the 19th and the first part of the 20th century. In order to accomplish this, besides the archival research, a potential researcher must pay attention to the statistical analysis. Moreover, this scientific work gives just a model of how to evaluate certain types of the civic organizations and how to compare them with the organizations similar to them. Although this doctoral thesis had to be done within a canonical time frame, it will be praiseworthy if we compare the civic organizations in Lika which exist today to those which have existed during the period of Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Of course, this kind of research calls for plenty of time, as well as considerable material assets, hence it can be done sometime in the future. Despite the fact that the tragic events during the World War II lead to the abolition of the civic organizations outside Lika region, the constitution of the Republic of Croatia has created the conditions for the reestablishment of the organizations. Nowadays, more than twenty organizations outside Lika work very actively and responsibly in order to interconnect Lika’s emigrants and their descendants with their homeland, from where their ancestors arrived more than one hundred and fifty years ago